1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope device and an operation apparatus having a battery as a power supply.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, a type of endoscopic light source unit having a lamp illuminated by utilizing power supplied from an outlet included in an endoscope apparatus.
By contrast, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-43133 has proposed an endoscope to which a battery-powered light source is freely detachably attached. The battery-powered light source utilizes a battery as a power supply.
Endoscope apparatuses having a compact battery-powered light source attached to an endoscope are superior in portability and usable in places where a power supply is unavailable. This type of endoscope apparatus proves very effective when applied to usage in places where it is hard to carry a large light source apparatus that needs a power supply.
However, the battery-powered light source uses a battery, which may be a dry cell or rechargeable battery, as a power supply. If the remaining amount of electrical energy contained in the battery is unknown the battery may be exhausted on an unexpected occasion. This leads to a possibility that an examination may have to be suspended, that the endoscope apparatus may fail to meet an emergency situation, or that the excellent features of the endoscope apparatus may not be exerted fully.
Moreover, a power switch of a dialed or pushed type may be formed on the battery-powered light source in order to turn on or off the lamp. In this case, the on or off state of the power switch is discerned from the appearance of the switch or the positional relationship between an indication inscribed near the switch and the switch. When the power switch is formed at the end or side of the light source opposite to a user""s face, it is hard to discern the on or off state. The battery may be exhausted because the user forgot to turn off the switch.
In recent years, an electric ultrasonic operation apparatus to be used in combination with an optical viewer has been widely adopted as a means to be inserted into an abdominal cavity or articular cavity for observing and treating a lesion. Moreover, an electric cautery or ultrasonic operation apparatus has been widely used as an operation apparatus that is not of a type being used trans-endoscopically.
For example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 2-43501 describes an intracavity resection apparatus having a treatment drill thereof inserted into a trocar and cannula for piercing the wall of a body cavity. Herein, an optical viewer is freely removably inserted into a channel lying through a drill instrument. A drill shaft having an umbrella cutting blade attached to the tip thereof and a flexible drive shaft are included in an insertion shaft of the drill instrument. The insertion shaft can be rotated using a driving motor. The driving motor is driven using a battery incorporated in a hand-held control section of the drill instrument.
However, the battery that is rather heavy is incorporated in the hand-held control section of the intracavity resection apparatus. This results in a heavy operation apparatus. When it takes much time to complete surgery, an operator must incur a great load. It is therefore hard to conduct surgery with high precision or for a long period of time.
The present invention provide an endoscope device and an operation apparatus enabling a user to recognize an amount of electrical energy contained in a battery.
The present invention also provides an endoscope device and an operation apparatus making it easy to discern an amount of electrical energy remaining in a battery during use.
The present invention also provides an endoscope device and an operation apparatus capable of preventing unexpected exhaustion of a battery attributable to the fact that a user forgot to check the state of the battery.
Still further the present invention provides an endoscope device capable of indicating an amount of electrical energy remaining in a battery even with an endoscope detached, and making it easy to check the amount of electrical energy remaining in the battery.
In addition the present invention provides an endoscope device and an operation apparatus having a portion thereof to be held for performing manipulations lightened in weight and thus offering improved maneuverability.
Briefly, an endoscope device in accordance with the present invention consists of an endoscope having a light guide fiber bundle over which illumination light is propagated, and a battery-powered light source including an illumination lamp and a battery. The illumination lamp is freely detachably attached to the endoscope and supplies illumination light to one end of the light guide fiber bundle on which illumination light is incident. The battery serves as a power supply for lighting the illumination lamp.
At least one of the endoscope and battery-powered light source has an indication means to indicate the amount of electrical energy contained in a battery. The indication means includes an electrical battery energy detecting means for detecting an amount of electrical energy contained in the battery, and a capacity-of-battery reporting means for reporting the amount of electrical energy contained in the battery to a user. Consequently, the endoscope device can prevent occurrence of a problem attributable to exhaustion of a battery.
An operation apparatus having a battery as a power supply has a surgical instrument and a battery housing. The surgical instrument consists of an insertion shaft to be inserted into a body cavity, a control section united with the back end of the shaft, and a cure device attached to the tip of the insertion shaft and used to perform resection, coagulation, or any other cure. A drive unit for driving the cure device is incorporated in the control section. The battery housing accommodates a battery for supplying power to the drive unit. The drive unit incorporated in the surgical instrument and the battery housing are linked by a flexible cord. This results in the operation apparatus having the surgical instrument of excellent maneuverability.